


Monster World

by sleepthief



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Gen, Monster World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22637398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepthief/pseuds/sleepthief
Summary: Ryou finds confidence in DM'ing a game of D&D for his friends. Yes, even Kaiba is into it.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	Monster World

**Author's Note:**

> Yes hello, it's been a literal decade since I wrote any fanfiction. I'm really into D&D these days and you'll all have to suffer for it. Here's a bunch of nerds playing D&D instead of a children's card game and finding friendship and confidence along the way!

“So would the Dark Magician be a sorcerer or a straight up wizard?”

Algebra hadn’t been able to hold his attention at all, and the mention of D&D classes all but obliterated it. Ryou leaned back in his chair, looking back at the boy doing homework on his bed. One look told him enough: Yugi had tried to concentrate on his homework as well, but had failed at it. Spectacularly. The other gave a sheepish grin.

Returning the grin with a fond smile, Ryou pushed away from his desk. “Well, it depends,” he started, happy to have something other than complex equations to talk about. “Do you reckon the Dark Magician has studied to learn magic, or has it always been inside of him?”

“You mean like innate magic?”

“Hm hm.”

Yugi had to think about that a little. “Innate.”

Rolling his chair closer to the bed, Ryou had to reign himself in not to start babbling. No one other than Yugi had ever shown any interest in his hobbies and he had so much to tell. “Sorcerer then,” Ryou concluded, going over all of the information in his brain to filter it to something a new player would be able to understand. Like with homework and algebra in school, info dumps hardly ever worked. “Okay, so according to the rules of the game, there’s two options for sorcerers: a draconic background or a magic mutation called wild magic.”

Yugi’s eyes focused on him completely at the word ‘draconic’. Some of his favourite Duel Monsters cards were dragons, after all. “Okay, you have to tell me everything!”

And so Ryou did, about races and classes. About the roleplay aspect of his favourite game and the technicalities of gambling with dice to determine the outcome of one’s actions. It was as if the floodgates had broken and the words came from him fast and excited. At some point they came in such a rush Ryou was afraid he’d never stop talking. But throughout it all, Yugi listened attentively, eyes clear and bright and mirroring the excitement Ryou felt.

“We really need to play this sometime,” the boy concluded, his phone already in hand. “I’ll try to get the group together next weekend?”

Ryou gasped.

“Is that too soon?” Yugi wanted to know and Ryou shook his head wordlessly. This made Yugi frown a little, chewing his lip as he realised that he might have been a little overexcited. “You don’t want to play?”

“I want to play!” Ryou startled himself with the intensity of his exclamation, clamming back up after. “I really really want to play.” The seven dioramas in the basement and the four campaign documents on his computer attested to that.

A small hand was placed on his wrist and squeezed gently. “Then we’ll play,” Yugi promised, intending to do all the social planning that came with setting up a game.

Yugi managed to set them up two weeks later, Kaiba moping at the far end of the table. Ryou could see he wore his ‘I don’t want to be here’ face, but the expensive blue-and-silver dice and matching chrome notebook betrayed his meticulous prepwork. And even though he had not brought any snacks, he’d brought everyone’s favourite Starbucks orders that morning, shoving them at Joey with a grunt upon arriving at Ryou’s place. “Next time, we play at my place,” he’d complained, “This place is a dump and the table is too small.”

And he might have been right about that: with Ryou’s cathedral diorama set up in the middle of the table, the bowls of snacks and fruit were squished in between character sheets and soda cans. Joey’s sheet had already suffered the consequences of being bottom to a can of Coke and Tea’s scented pastel gelpens had already scattered across and under the table after Tristan had tried to do a drumsolo with them.

It was chaos, and they hadn’t even started their game yet.

But Ryou couldn’t be happier to play again, his fingers itching to start. Rolling his desk chair up to the dinner table, he checked if he hadn’t forgotten anything: his dice, his monster mini’s, his players’ backstories neatly tucked away in the thick folder on his lap. Everything was in order, as it had been the last two times he’d checked.

It was Yugi who called everyone to the table, pleading for the game to start. He cast Ryou a look, as he sat behind the screen he had set up to hide his notes behind. “Thank you for inviting us to your game,” he said, eying the diorama and chuckling as Ryou finished putting on a playlist of instrumental music.

Ryou refused to meet his eyes, self conscious all of a sudden. “I’ve not had any people to play with for awhile,” he replied, eyes cast to the adventure he’d typed out to keep himself from comparing this group to his last one: his sister and her friends. After the accident, he’d been alone for a long time. “I’ve a lot of time to plan.”

“You’re a nerd,” Joey grinned at him, and for the first time in a long while it didn’t feel like an insult. Tristan shoved an elbow between his ribs even so. “Dude, don’t antagonise the DM. He’ll kill your character.”

“That’s not--” But Ryou didn’t even try to quiet down the two rowdy teens. Instead, it was Kaiba who yanked at Joey’s sleeve. “I’ll kill you if you don’t shut the fuck up, Wheeler.” And to Ryou, “Well? Let’s get started.”

Straightening his spine and drawing in a deep breath, Ryou pushed at the anxiety. He pushed at his worries and his concerns and his bad memories as he tapped into the stories he’d been writing since he was a child. When he opened his eyes, he found the room quiet, expectant eyes set on him. And he felt confident, perhaps for the first time in his life. “Okay. So this story starts--”


End file.
